And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2

Last week began with an unexpected mad rush to the emergency room. Ken was experiencing acute chest pain and our emotions were running extremely high. A barrage of assorted tests, enough blood drawn to drain a body, and all the fears associated with this kind of trauma hovered over our days. He was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and every effort was expended to locate the cause. After five days, he was home again, now taking blood thinners and there’s still no definitive answer as to the cause. But he’s home, and that’s what counts.

Amidst all the chaos, family and friends have offered prayers, concern, and support. To all, we say a genuine, heartfelt “THANK YOU!” You are truly the angels in our lives.

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35

And from the chaos, I take several memories that capture the goodness in humankind. The first are all the nurses who truly are angels and serve in ways I can’t imagine. Their dedication to their profession is a beautiful thing to witness. Their patience with their patients goes beyond anything that I could ever muster. No matter how nasty a patient’s attitude, he or she is met with kindness, with sweet and comforting words that turn away the frustrations of the moment. When they must wake a patient in the middle of the night to take vitals, they know the right things to say and do to take the sting from the patient’s reluctance at being awakened once again. We can’t say enough to appreciate all they did to make Ken’s hospital stay more bearable.

And then some volunteers made my husband smile during a very difficult day. On our arrival in the ER, Ken looked up from his gurney and said to me: “This is why people vote early.” We had chosen to vote at our local polling place on election day. Ken never misses an opportunity to vote. After serving eight years in the military to preserve that privilege, he takes it very seriously. When our daughter learned that he was distressed over not having voted, she immediately got on the phone to the Christian County Courthouse to see if anything could be done. They took all his information and said they would put forth their best effort to get someone there, but they couldn’t promise that a team would be available. It was then that I discovered I had left Ken’s wallet, including ID, at home that morning. So our daughter hopped in the car and drove right back down the road we had just traveled to retrieve his ID, just in case. And, sure enough, at about three o’clock on election day afternoon, in walked two total strangers with a ballot. Ken’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. He voted and that made his day. Four people at Mercy Hospital were able to vote that day because of volunteers. If you ever are looking for a place to volunteer your time, I can tell you this is a very worthy one.

And then there was his roomy. We had all enjoyed the private room he was in when acute care was needed, so when they announced on the second afternoon that he would be moving, we were grateful that acute care was no longer needed but also reluctant to give up the privacy of the room. The move could not be accomplished until very late in the evening and I had gone home by then. He called the next morning, distraught because the roommate had caused constant disruption all during the night. When I arrived, he was still distraught, but settled a bit when I talked to personnel and they agreed to somehow solve the problem. For a time I must admit that my anguish over Ken’s anguish caused me not to focus on the needs of the other man. We didn’t exemplify the mission of our church to be Christ in the world. Little did we realize that this was our opportunity to reach out to someone we didn’t know who was really hurting in ways we didn’t understand. 

 Over the next two days and after he had a long sleep, during which we all had time to recuperate, we began to see signs of goodness within the man amidst all his swearing and inappropriate behavior. Each time he flung a bad word across the room, our daughter prayed that the peace of Jesus would enter his soul. I began to pray for his overall welfare. And Ken gave him a buckeye. In case you didn’t know, the buckeye is a symbol of good luck, and these came from a churchyard where Ken and the pastor prayed over the ones they gathered, making them special. I hope that buckeye helps this man to remember that God loves him. On their last night sharing a room, the two men watched post-election stories and shared comments about their thoughts. The roommate left about an hour before Ken, but he wasn’t going home, he was being moved to a long-term facility. He’s been added to our prayer list and I’d appreciate your adding him to yours. I won’t share a name, just that we all ask for the peace of Jesus to reach into his heart. We all need the gift of His peace.

We love because he first loved us. I John 4:19

Thank you, Jesus, for your constant presence at our sides.